Method of controlling ink jet recording apparatus

Abstract

An ink jet recording apparatus includes: a print head having an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium, thereby performing printing on the recording medium; a recording medium thickness setting unit setting a thickness of the recording medium; a droplet amount setting unit setting an ink droplet amount depending on the recording medium thickness; and a droplet amount control unit controlling an amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the set ink droplet amount.

1. An ink jet recording apparatus, comprising:
 a print head having an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium, thereby performing printing on the recording medium; 
 a recording medium thickness setting unit configured to set a thickness of the recording medium; 
 a droplet amount setting unit configured to set an ink droplet amount according to a predetermined relationship between the recording medium thickness and the ink droplet amount, the relationship being pre-stored in the ink jet recording apparatus; and 
 a droplet amount control unit configured to control an amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the ink droplet amount. 
 
   
   
     2. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a recording medium type setting unit configured to set a type of the recording medium by a user input,
 the droplet amount setting unit being configured to set the ink droplet amount depending on both of the thickness of the recording medium and the type of the recording medium. 
 
   
   
     3. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 2 , further comprising a first droplet amount storage unit configured to store a plurality of values of ink droplet amounts in association with a plurality of combinations of values for the recording medium thickness and recording medium types, and
 wherein the droplet amount setting unit is configured to select one value of the ink droplet amount from the droplet amount storage unit depending on a combination of the recording medium thickness set by the recording medium thickness setting unit and the type of the recording medium set by the recording medium type setting unit, to thereby set the ink droplet amount. 
 
   
   
     4. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 3 , wherein the first droplet amount storage unit is configured to store a plurality of groups of ink droplet amount values in association with the plurality of combinations of the values for the recording medium thickness and the recording medium types, each group of ink droplet amount values including a plurality of values of ink droplet amounts which correspond to a plurality of different sized dot states, respectively, and which are different from one another, and
 wherein the droplet amount setting unit includes a first droplet amount setting unit that includes: 
 a group selecting unit configured to select one group of ink droplet amount values from the first droplet amount storage unit, depending on a combination of the recording medium thickness set by the recording medium thickness setting unit and the recording medium type set by the recording medium type setting unit; and 
 a first halftone processing unit configured to set, for each pixel in an image desired to be recorded, one of a non-dot state and a plurality of different sized dot states and that sets, to each dot state set pixel to which one of the plurality of dot states is set, an ink droplet amount value that is included in the selected group of ink droplet amount values and that corresponds to the dot state. 
 
   
   
     5. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 4 , wherein a largest value among the plurality of values of ink droplet amounts included in each group of ink droplet amount values stored in the first droplet amount storage unit is equal to a predetermined maximum ink amount value,
 wherein the ink jet recording apparatus further comprises: 
 a second droplet amount storage unit configured to store a single ink droplet amount value that is equal to the predetermined maximum ink amount value; and 
 a gap setting unit configured to set an interval between the print head and a platen, on which the recording medium is disposed, by selecting one of first and second predetermined values of interval, the second predetermined value of interval being greater than the first predetermined value of interval, 
 wherein the droplet amount setting unit includes a second droplet amount setting unit that includes: 
 a droplet amount reading unit configured to read the single ink droplet amount value from the second droplet amount storage unit; and 
 a second halftone processing unit configured to set, for each pixel in the image desired to be recorded, one of the non-dot state and the plurality of different sized dot states and set, to each dot state set pixel to which one of the plurality of dot states is set, the single ink droplet amount value that is read from the second droplet amount storage unit, 
 wherein when the gap setting unit sets the interval to the first predetermined value, the first droplet amount setting unit operates to set an ink droplet amount to each dot-state set pixel dependently on the recording medium thickness set by the recording medium thickness setting unit, the recording medium type set by the recording medium type setting unit, and the dot state set to the each dot-state set pixel, and 
 wherein when the gap setting unit sets the interval to the second predetermined value, the second droplet amount setting unit operates to set the single ink droplet amount to each dot-state set pixel, irrespective of the recording medium thickness set by the recording medium thickness setting unit, irrespective of the recording medium type set by the recording medium type setting unit, and irrespective of the dot state set to the each dot-state set pixel. 
 
   
   
     6. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 1 , further comprising a droplet amount storage unit configured to store a plurality of values of ink droplet amounts in association with a plurality of values for the recording medium thickness, and wherein
 the droplet amount setting unit is configured to select one value of the ink droplet amount from the droplet amount storage unit depending on the recording medium thickness, to thereby set the ink droplet amount. 
 
   
   
     7. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 6 , further comprising a gap setting unit configured to set an interval between the print head and a platen on which the recording medium is disposed, and wherein the droplet amount setting unit is configured to set the ink droplet amount depending on the interval and the recording medium thickness. 
   
   
     8. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 7 , wherein the gap setting unit is configured to set the value of the interval by selecting one of two different predetermined values, and wherein the droplet amount setting unit is configured to set the ink droplet amount by selecting the largest ink droplet amount from among the plurality of ink droplet amounts when the gap setting unit sets the interval to a larger one of the two different predetermined values. 
   
   
     9. The ink jet recording apparatus according to  claim 1 , wherein the recording medium thickness is set by a user input. 
   
   
     10. A method for controlling an ink jet recording apparatus having a print head formed with an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium and a controller controlling an ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port, the method comprising:
 setting thickness of the recording medium; and 
 setting an ink droplet amount according to a predetermined relationship between the recording medium thickness and the ink amount, the relationship being pre-stored in the ink jet recording apparatus, the controller controlling the ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the ink droplet amount. 
 
   
   
     11. The method according to  claim 10 , further comprising a step of enabling a user to set the type of the recording medium, wherein the ink droplet amount is set depending on both of the thickness of the recording medium and the type of the recording medium. 
   
   
     12. The method according to  claim 10 , wherein one value is selected among a plurality of values of ink droplet amounts that are stored in association with a plurality of values for the recording medium thickness, to thereby set the ink droplet amount. 
   
   
     13. The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising setting an interval between the print head and a platen on which the recording medium is disposed, and wherein the ink droplet amount is set depending on the interval and the recording medium thickness. 
   
   
     14. The method according to  claim 13 , the value of the interval is set by selecting one of two different predetermined values, and wherein the ink droplet amount is set by selecting a largest ink droplet amount from among the plurality of ink droplet amounts when the interval is set to a larger one of the two different predetermined values. 
   
   
     15. The method according to  claim 10 , wherein the thickness of the recording medium is set by a user input. 
   
   
     16. A storage medium storing a set of program instructions executable on a data processing device for controlling an ink jet recording apparatus having a print head formed with an ink discharge port for discharging ink toward a recording medium and a controller controlling an ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port, the instructions comprising:
 setting a thickness of the recording medium; and 
 setting an ink droplet amount according to a predetermined relationship between the recording medium thickness and the ink amount, the relationship being pre-stored in the ink jet recording apparatus, the controller controlling the ink amount of an ink droplet to be discharged from the ink discharge port to the ink droplet amount. 
 
   
   
     17. The storage medium according to  claim 16 , wherein the thickness of the recording medium is set by a user input.